Bit confused

[Teresa60]

Hi

Just been diagnosed with type 2 but not on medication as yet and the nurse has told me that I cannot have any form of fruit or chocolate, honey, beetroot, carrots but I've noticed on here that there are recipes with carrots and beetroot in them. And also 80 - 100% chocolate
I'm so confused now. Also is there any savoury snacks I can have?
Any advice?

 

[Kaylz]

Hmm im not sure why you've been given that advice, many of the Type 2's on here enjoy fruit and chocolate in moderation of course, it's high carbs that should be avoided but these foods may still be eaten in smaller portion sizes for instance
I take it you don't have a testing kit?
Savoury snacks you could try are the likes of no or very low carb foods so things like cheese, meats, eggs, nuts etc x

 

[Teresa60]

Thank you for replying. The nurse was quite adamant.

 

[Robin]

Hello, Teresa. What other foods has your nurse told you to avoid? If she's asking you to cut out things with a moderate to low carb content, like high cocoa chocolate, and root veg, ( and all fruit, including berries, which a lot of people controlling Type 2 on diet alone find they can tolerate) I assume she must have told you follow a very low carb diet, and not to eat bread, potatoes, cereals, porridge etc either? Otherwise, restrictions on the foods you have listed make no sense at all.

 

[Mark T]

Carrots? Really? Didn't mention bread or potatoes I guess.

Lots of different types of savory nuts that you can try. Pork crackling. Seaweed!

 

[pav]

Another nurse from the old days unfortunately, yes you can eat fruit in moderation though here's the tricky bit certain fruits can be heavily loaded with sugar, one of the advantages of using a meter is that you can test before eating then around 2 hours later to see what the effects of what you have eaten are on yourself. Bananas used to be ok with me as long I eat them just as they turned yellow, but I can no longer eat them as now I react quite badly to them with my levels.

I do eat chocolate on occasions, but only one or two squares as I can't stand dark chocolate which is more tolerable to diabetics, don't buy diabetic chocolate or sweets as they have other unwanted side effects, a case of moderation of what you eat. I did enjoy a full bar of mint areo the other day as I was hypo at the time.

It's the same with a lot of foods like white bread that is highly processed, which can raise our levels rapidly, again this is where a meter comes in handy. Well worth looking at the total carb content in foods to give you an idea of how much the total sugars are in a particular food, google comes in handy when trying to identify carbs in food.

 

[Teresa60]

Hi
I mentioned low carb diet but she just said healthy diet. 1 piece of wholemeal bread per day, no more then 4 eggs per week because of cholesterol but strangely I can have baked beans

Hello, Teresa. What other foods has your nurse told you to avoid? If she's asking you to cut out things with a moderate to low carb content, like high cocoa chocolate, and root veg, ( and all fruit, including berries, which a lot of people controlling Type 2 on diet alone find they can tolerate) I assume she must have told you follow a very low carb diet, and not to eat bread, potatoes, cereals, porridge etc either? Otherwise, restrictions on the foods you have listed make no sense at all.

 

[Teresa60]

That's cheered me up I love pork crackling but I'm craving a sausage roll at the minute

Carrots? Really? Didn't mention bread or potatoes I guess.

Lots of different types of savory nuts that you can try. Pork crackling. Seaweed!

 

[Teresa60]

Thanks for all the info. Think I will check on here if I have questions rather then rely on the nurse

Another nurse from the old days unfortunately, yes you can eat fruit in moderation though here's the tricky bit certain fruits can be heavily loaded with sugar, one of the advantages of using a meter is that you can test before eating then around 2 hours later to see what the effects of what you have eaten are on yourself. Bananas used to be ok with me as long I eat them just as they turned yellow, but I can no longer eat them as now I react quite badly to them with my levels.

I do eat chocolate on occasions, but only one or two squares as I can't stand dark chocolate which is more tolerable to diabetics, don't buy diabetic chocolate or sweets as they have other unwanted side effects, a case of moderation of what you eat. I did enjoy a full bar of mint areo the other day as I was hypo at the time.

It's the same with a lot of foods like white bread that is highly processed, which can raise our levels rapidly, again this is where a meter comes in handy. Well worth looking at the total carb content in foods to give you an idea of how much the total sugars are in a particular food, google comes in handy when trying to identify carbs in food.

 

[trophywench]

Oh my God - Nursie Nightshade in person - was educated by Noah's tutor aboard the Ark. She's seriously out of date with her dietary advice, and about blood cholesterol levels.

The medical profession now know they were wrong when telling us to restrict fats and other things to reduce our cholesterol because the ONLY thing we eat which increases blood cholesterol in fact - is carbohydrate! Therefore if we reduce carb consumption - our LDL level is most likely to also reduce.

 

[DaveB]

Yes, sadly your nurse is well-meaning but way out of date. Keep the carbs down and have enough fat and protein to keep you feeling full. No carbs are banned but keep the daily total down to a level that holds your blood sugar. Yes, root veg can be high in carbs but raw carrots are much better than cooked. Do a bit of research and find out what carbs are the better ones

 

[Vince_UK]

I and many others here follow a Low Carb/High Fat/ High Protein diet. I try to limit my carb intake to around 85-85 grams daily.
Meat all types, bacon, fish all types, eggs any way, butter, cheese I eat a lot. Veg that grows above ground, mushrooms, asparagus, sprouts, broccoli for example.
No rice, noodles, pizza, bread, cakes anything that contains flour, potatoes. Not easy initially but after a while it becomes second nature.
Fruit I only eat berries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries (80gr around 4 gr/carb) very rarely blueberries usually with double or extra thick cream-wonderful.
Nuts, walnuts for example.
Chocolate high cocao content 85% and above and in moderation.
There are many recipes available for low carb breads etc such as flaxseed bread.
Drinks, water perhaps infused with fruit to make it more interesteing, black coffee and tea, Alpro Unsweeteded Almond milkd(0carbs),
Once you get used to it, it is rather enjoyable to be honest.
Net result, no medication now, HaA1c and BG level in non diabetic range.
Weight loss 17 kilos
Cholestrol 3
Feel much better, fitter healthier and view my T2 diabetes now as purely an inconvenience.
There are a number of god books and phone apps that are a wealth of information and the Food and Carbs thread on this forum I foud invaluable.
Downside? There is none other than I have had to buy a complete new wardrobe and have my belts altered as my waist went from 38 to 33" in 3 months.
I feel the advice you have been given albeit maybe well-intentioned is out of date.
Good luck

 

[trophywench]

There are not that many carbs in a pint of 'ordinary' cow's milk to be honest, so unless you have a lot of milk in teas and coffees, I see no mega reason not to continue to enjoy them with milk to be honest.

 

[Vince_UK]

There are not that many carbs in a pint of 'ordinary' cow's milk to be honest, so unless you have a lot of milk in teas and coffees, I see no mega reason not to continue to enjoy them with milk to be honest.

Each to their own. 0 carbs in Alpro v 5 or so in cow’s milk I know which I prefer to drink.

 

[Mark Parrott]

I can't believe the egg situation. It has been proven for at least 15 years that eggs do not have bad cholesterol. And even this is irrelevant as dietary cholesterol has little effect our bodies cholesterol anyway. These are proven facts. Total cholesterol figures are meaningless. It's the breakdown that's important. My total cholesterol has barely changed, but my breakdown (LDL/HDL/Trigs) has completely changed for the better, therefore statins have never been mentioned.